Tuesday, July 16, 2013

The Real Deal in Stock Investing

I am frequently asked by a lot of readers about where they
should invest their money. I often tell them that there are two ways by which
they can invest their money wisely. These two investment options aren't new,
and you probably have heard them before. The first option is business, either a
self-owned business or someone else's business. The second option is real
estate; these are properties which can either be for residential or commercial
purposes. Lands, apartments, condominiums, housing complex, farms and
warehouses are examples of real estate properties.

I’ve created an article and a video tackling the ins and outs of
real estate investing before. For now we will be discussing about investing
your money in stocks. Investing in stocks makes you a shareholder, and grants
you partial ownership of the business.

Invest your money not where it would be kept, but where it would
generate revenue

In this age where the worth of paper money decreases on a daily
basis, I receive a lot of questions requesting for my views about investing on
gold and silver. I acknowledge the importance of these valuable metals, and I
understand that it can produce a big turnover when prices spiked up. It has
been tried and tested before. You have probably toyed on the idea of converting
some of your cash equivalents into gold coins and silver, and then use these
metal bars and coins in embellishing your safety boxes. But is it really wise
to invest all your money in these precious metals?

The simple answer is – no. These are valuable metals, I know, but
these won’t yield more value. My standpoint will always be: If you would invest
your hard-earned cash, you should invest it on resources that will generate
more cash. In essence, corporations can make competitive products and
commendable services by using the money provided by investors. All these goods
and services they create make our everyday life easier. It improves our
well-being through health products. It powers our communication system. It propels
us forward and lets us reach our destinations. It even enhances the way we
learn and do research.

One of the most successful investors of our time often talks about
how stock investment can shatter the dog-tired concept of investing on gold.
Essentially, stock investing isn’t just about buying an asset that generates
income. It’s investing on goods that benefits many individuals.

It’s More Difficult to Build a Successful Business than Own a
Share of it

It doesn’t take a genius for you to know how hard it is to make a
profitable business. Initially, businessmen work day and night. Their efforts
are sometimes based on risks – trial and errors. Ultimately, if you already
have an established business, the rewards are endless. What I want to reiterate
is that starting your own business warrants substantial effort, money, time,
common sense and great sacrifices.

Now, comparing the amount of hardships and risks it would take to
build a corporation than buying a share of an already successful business, I
know one thing. Imagine how easy it is to buy a stock of a profitable business
in your country. Think about the comforts of not being required to be present
in the company’s office every day; of not having the need to make reports or
fix business problems that may arise. No long, boring meetings. No discussions
with the boards. You stay in the comforts of your own home or office cashing in
dividend cheques. Even that miniscule task can be taken care of if you’re using
a pledged account.

It’s Flexible and Easily Tradable

Good thing about investing in stocks is that they are highly
flexible, and can easily be converted into cash. You can do the buying and
selling virtually anywhere; provided it’s the right trading time and you have
internet access. In times that you can’t connect to an internet provider, a
stockbroker or an agent can be reached through phone.

I’d go back to comparing investing with managing a business. If
one of your businesses fails, you’re doomed. Some people just don’t have the
heart to close down a business because of emotional reasons. Either because the
business has been significant to their family or because of fear of dealing
with the many hassles of starting all over again. I’m not pulling you away from
being an entrepreneur. I just want to point out that compared to running a
business, stock investing is favorable in many levels –
flexibility, liquidity and all. Unlike a business that can get you stuck,
changing switching into different stocks is easy.

Let’s say for example that your investments in company #1 is quite
unsuccessful; what you can do is sell your shares, and look for a much cheaper
stocks you can buy from another company. Investing in stocks gives you a
more flexible option of dispersing your money into different companies, trades,
and even to different countries. Looking for a number of successful companies
to invest in – you don’t need to look very far – we have a wide range of great
corporations in this country alone. In the current market, a lot of firms
allow investors to engage in stock buying in other countries.

It Can Be Done From the Comfort of Your Home

If you have read my article about real-estate investing, I have
pinpointed there that property investing is for an outgoing person – the
socializer. These are people who love the idea of visiting properties, meeting
new people and building rapport with them to seal the deal. On the other hand,
stock investing is for the quiet thinkers. Those people who would rather stay
home, read and learn.

Suffice to say that when it comes to stock investing, you don’t
need to be far from home. Buying and selling can be done at home. You can
search the internet for reports, wait for updates on the news. Having these
portals is essential in conducting proper examination of how to invest and what
type of companies are valuable.

Unlike having your own business and investing in real estate, you
don’t need staff to pay and leaseholders to supervise. Truth be told, one of
the many perks of investing in stocks is that the only thing you need to
facilitate is your own time and resources.

It Provides Long Term Business Revenue

Some stocks that only worth a penny before, costs millions today.
There’s a beer industry in the 70s, and if you purchased 100 shares from that
company, your stocks will now costs more 1 million. That’s why it’s important
to look for notable companies. They’re reliable and they’re more likely to
generate big revenues.

Anyone can do it

A company that sells their shares makes it available to almost
everyone who want to be a shareholder. Some countries may require minimum
transaction costs and a limit in the number of stocks you can buy at a time,
but anyone can buy their own share. Minimum costs per transaction becomes
insignificant the bigger the number of stocks you buy.

Trade listing is being strictly regulated, thus it is possible to
get all company information that you need from these business. You can get
reports, annual analysis from the company’s websites or by paying a visit to
their company’s location. It’s easy to buy stocks because of low initial
capital required, and because of readily available information you can acquire
from companies you are interested in.

Every Financially Successful Individual Are Most Likely Stock
Owners

I know a lot of rich and famous people who put a big sum of their
money in business and real estate. Rich businessmen either own shares from the
business they’re running, or own a share from other companies, which entitles
them partial ownership of other people’s business.

This is a guest post by
KCLau. KCLau is the best selling author of Top Money Tips for Malaysians. His
popular personal finance blog is one of the most visited websites in the
financial blogosphere with more than 14,000 email subscribers. He also hosts
regular and free financial training online featuring different financial experts. You can
follow his latest updates by visiting www.KCLau.com.

5 comments:

Everything about our business must be maintained well. Our strategy and skills should must be practiced to enhance it and develop for the betterment of our business. It is important that we are always active to ensure that we learn things from our business.

I've extract some of the information in regard to YTL Power 1bestarinet and its latest contract to supply chromebook laptop to school.

As of end-December 2012, 70% of the nations schools have been connected. And the laptops would be Chromebooks running Google Apps, the Mountain View, California tech giant’s cloud-based solution suite. Google and its Chromebook is selected base on its low-cost cloud based services versus the PC-era architecture of the others; instant-on ability; and all-day battery life.

Under the first phase to supply chromebook laptops, it costing up to RM 513.3m encompasses fixed term licensing fees of RM 250.5m and management and maintenance cost of RM 262.8m. Each school will have 41 Chromebooks made by Samsung with 3,000 schools to get them initially.

[Remark: the Samsung Chromebook is listed at RM1,299; or RM988 under the YES 4G Chromebook Plan, for RM69 per month with a monthly 3.5GB data quota].

But, with the Barisan Nasional having made an election promise that it will provide every student, plus teachers and parents, with a laptop, The numbers are daunting – 10,000 schools, over 5.3 million students, 500,000 teachers and 4.5 million parents, on one unified platform the irresistible lure of supplying 10 million laptops, now that the Barisan has been returned to power.

With each student in the country given a unique YES ID, the Chromebook becomes that student’s personal computer and with it, the lessons and e-books of that student.

YTL Communications would use the tower to roll out commercial YES 4G services to the residents of the surrounding community. As each tower can cover up to 4km radius, This infrastructure will also enable teaching to go beyond classrooms, not just anywhere in the school compound but also the surrounding areas up to a 4km radius. With this broad coverage, students, parents and teachers can use this network to access the Frog VLE from home and continue the learning experience.

Always pursue a better goal that we can achieve for our property business. Discover ways on how our investment can get more better in order for us to succeed in the future. Pursue to be the best in order to achieve our dreams and make our business grow successfully.

Disclaimer

The content here should serve as the opinion of the writer rather than as an advice to buy or sell. You should do your own research and/or seek expert's advice when doing your investments. Any decision that you made is your own and the author should not be held accountable.